Did General Motors Launch The First All-Electric Pickup Truck Back In 1997?

While Tesla, Ford, and Rivian race to be the first to market with an all-electric pickup truck, there may be one player in the game that reportedly did it before the rest. General Motors (GM) launched a fully-electric pickup truck back in 1997 with the Chevy S10 EV.

The Chevy S10 EV was primarily targeted as a fleet vehicle with only 1,100 units produced at the time, GM Authority reported. The electric truck project, which was based off on a two-door, short-bed Chevy S10 work truck, was pulled by GM a year later, the news outlet said.

The powerpack of the electric pickup truck included an 85 kW AC induction motor powered by a 16.2 kWh battery pack that was situated under the bed and between the frame rails, weighing in at a reported 1,400 pounds.

The truck’s driving range was 38.8 miles at 60 mph and 60.4 miles at 45 mph, according to PickupTrucks.com and the Idaho National Laboratory’s Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity (via GM Authority).

Back in 2012, Tom Convey, a former GM engineer, reminisced about the electric pickup truck to PickupTrucks.com saying, “The smooth, quick acceleration was like taking off in a light aircraft. The sound of the gear whine reminded me of a turbine engine. If GM made a vehicle like that again, I’d buy it in a minute! I miss that truck!”

Cost of the truck was a reported $33,305.

Shares of General Motors stock were down 0.08 percent as of 2:52 p.m. ET on Friday.